CLIPPERS KEEP PAUL; HOWARD SHOPS AROUND

Chris Paul’s answer was brief, just like his time on the free agent market.

“I’M IN!!!” he wrote Monday on Twitter.

He will be staying with the Clippers, the longtime losers he helped turned into a division champion in just two seasons.

Dwight Howard will need more time to think.

Free agency opened Monday in the NBA with the focus on the pair of Los Angeles All-Stars, though Paul took himself off the market only hours after shopping season started.

Agent Leon Rose confirmed Paul’s return, which had been expected after the Clippers signed Doc Rivers as their new coach. The Clippers can pay the two-time Olympic gold medalist about $108 million for five years.

Howard can make even more by staying with the Lakers, but that won’t stop him from looking elsewhere.

He met with the Houston Rockets early Monday, the Dallas Mavericks and Atlanta Hawks also are interested, and the Lakers have said repeatedly they want to keep him. The Rockets got the first crack at persuading him to leave. With Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler joining its contingent, Houston pitched Howard on joining All-Star James Harden.

Hawks General Manager Danny Ferry and new coach Mike Budenholzer visited Howard later Monday, trying to convince him to join his hometown team. And he’ll meet today with the Lakers’ delegation.

Around the association

The New York Knicks are hoping Andrea Bargnani relocates his outside shot after agreeing to a deal with Toronto to acquire the No. 1 overall pick in the 2006 draft. The Raptors will receive Knicks reserves Steve Novak, Marcus Camby and Quentin Richardson, who will be signed-and-traded. The Knicks are also sending the Raptors a 2016 first-round pick and two second-round picks, a source told The AP.

• The New Orleans Pelicans have made an offer to Sacramento Kings restricted free agent guard Tyreke Evans. Several media outlets reported the deal was for four years and ranging between $40 million and $48 million.

• Free-agent forward Mike Dunleavy has verbally committed to sign with the Chicago Bulls later this month, sources told ESPN.